I do a lot of coaching of in-house lawyers and one question I am often asked is “should I look for a new job?”  From experience, I understand that deciding to look for a new position is one of the hardest decisions an in-house lawyer has to make.  There are many articles discussing moving from law firms to in-house and vice versa, but few – if any – on the decision that most frequently faces in-house lawyers, i.e., when is it time to move on to another in-house position?  Followed closely by “if so, how do I go about it?”  In the past, in-house lawyers pretty much stuck with one company for their entire career (e.g., I spent 20+ years with my first company).  Today, that type of longevity is often the exception.  It is far more common (maybe even expected) for in-house lawyers to move around on their own volition to several different companies.  There are many reasons why such a move may – or may not – make sense.  Ultimately, you do not want to be in a new job for three months only to regret your decision with a bitterness only found on Johnny Cash albums.  Avoiding such a sad state of affairs means the decision to move on is not something you make on a whim.  A lot of work and thinking must go into your decision-making process.  This edition of “Ten Things” walks you through some of the things to consider when thinking about moving to a new in-house job:

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